The invention relates generally to telephone answering machines, and more particularly to a multimedia answering machine.
As deregulation of the telephone industry continues and as companies prepare to enter the local telephone access market, there is a need to offer new and innovative services that distinguish common carriers from their competitors. This cannot be accomplished without introducing new local access network architectures that will be able to support these new and innovative services.
Conventionally, customer premises telephone and/or data connections contain splitters for separating analog voice calls from other data services such as Ethernet transported over digital subscriber line (DSL) modems. Voice band data and voice signals are sent through a communications switch in a central or local office to an interexchange carrier or Internet service provider. DSL data is sent through a digital subscriber loop asynchronous mode (DSLAM switch which may include a router. The DSLAM switch connects many lines and routes the digital data to a telephone company""s digital switch.
A major problem with this configuration is that interexchange carriers attempting to penetrate the local telephone company""s territory must lease trunk lines from the local telephone company switch to the interexchange company""s network for digital traffic. Furthermore, the Internet service provider must lease a modem from the local phone company in the DSLAM switch and route its data through the local phone company""s digital switch. Thus, the local phone company leases and/or provides a significant amount of equipment, driving up the cost of entry for any other company trying to provide local telephone services and making it difficult for the interexchange companies to differentiate their services. Furthermore, since DSL modem technology is not standardized, in order to ensure compatibility, the type of DSL modem provided by the local telephone company must also be provided to the end user in the customer premises equipment (CPE). Additionally, since the network is not completely controlled by the interexchange companies, it is difficult for the interexchange companies to provide data at committed delivery rates and/or desired quality levels. Any performance improvements implemented by the interexchange companies may not be realized by their customers, because the capabilities of the local telephone company equipment may or may not meet their performance needs. Thus, it is difficult for the interexchange companies to convince potential customers to switch to their equipment or to use their services. These factors ensure the continued market presence of the local telephone company.
As part of this system, there is a need for improved architectures, services and equipment utilized to distinguish the interexchange companies"" products and services.
A problem that has plagued many telephone users is the endless phone hierarchies where a customer calls a company or government office and becomes mired in an endless array of menu choicesxe2x80x94none of which seem to guide the individual to where he or she would like to go. Often the answering machine will simply hang-up on the individual at the end of one menus without ever providing the individual the information requested. Users often become frustrated at not being able to speak with a human being.
Another problem for many users of telephone answering machines is that it is very difficult to customize a telephone answering machine to reflect the personality of the owner of the machine. We customize our business cards, holiday cards, and letter head, employ different advertising, and decorate our offices to reflect our own personalities, to draw attention to ourselves, and to differentiate our services. However, heretofore, it has been difficult to customize our voice announcement messages. Although some users have added music through the use of a tape recorder playing while the user is recording an announcement, these attempts at customizing a voice greeting are crude at best and are cumbersome to use.
As a further problem, users which are placed on-hold are either provided comfort noise, music, and/or advertisements from the company to which they called. Time on hold often passes very slowly and many users may hang-up. Home users without sophisticated PABX machines are even more disadvantages since these users usually only provide comfort noise to their customers which are place on-hold.
In order to provide an improved network, it is desirable for the interexchange companies to have access to at least one of the twisted-pair lines or alternate wireless facility connecting each of the individual users to the local telephone network before the lines are routed through the conventional local telephone network equipment. It is preferable to have access to these lines prior to the splitter and modem technology offered by the local service providers. By having access to the twisted-pair wires entering the customer""s premises, interexchange companies can differentiate their services by providing higher bandwidth, improving the capabilities of the customer premises equipment, and lowering overall system costs to the customer by providing competitive service alternatives.
The new architecture may utilize a video phone and/or other devices to provide new services to an end user; an intelligent services director (ISD) disposed at or near the customer""s premises for multiplexing and coordinating many digital services onto a single twisted-pair line; a facilities management platform (FMP) disposed in the local telephone network""s central office for routing data to an appropriate interexchange company network; and a network server platform (NSP) coupled to the FMP for providing new and innovative services to the customer and for distinguishing services provided by the interexchange companies from those services provided by the local telephone network.
As part of this system, one aspect of the invention provides a mutlimedia announcement answering machine. The users may record video greetings for their answering machine. The video greetings may include animations and other suitable audio/video clips. Still images may also be presented.